Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Movie

PLEASE NOTE THAT ANYTHING SAID IN THIS ENTRY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. IN FACT, I'M PRETTY CERTAIN THAT'S WHAT THIS ENTIRE ENTRY WILL BE ABOUT.








So...

Right. HP:OotP.

Please keep in mind that I haven't managed to reread the book yet. And I don't think I've read this one more than once.

Here's the run down:




Things That I Liked:

Ghetto!Dudley and Homeboys

It was only a few minutes (if that) that Gansta Dudley and his homies showed up, but I thought it was particularly amusing. I also find it amusing that Petunia would allow her son to dress like that. XD

Weasley's Wizard Weezes:

They didn't get the whole bit about actually starting a joke shop, but I was pleased to see the fireworks and the student testing products. I didn't expect them to keep those bits for this movie, but I'm glad they did.

Thestrals

The thestrals have been one of my favourite creatures that the gang has encountered. They're mysterious and slightly spooky, but actually quite nice, which is actually the description of many of my favourite characters ever. I was pleased to see them well-designed and used.

Luna Lovegood

She just felt right to me. Luna's a tough character to play because of her weirdness. I mean, yeah, she's weird, but I imagine that it would be difficult to find the balance between too weird and not weird enough. Props to that lovely actress.

Severus~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*fanboys all over the place*

Alright. They didn't include a LOT of the stuff dealing with Snape's character, but they did include that one scene that made me completely re-evaluate Severus. I knew they were going to show it because I knew that a young Severus had been cast and I would have preferred that it was a smidge lengthier (as it didn't play out like the memory that Harry witnessed in the book), but I was pleased to see it included. I don't think that it had the impact in the movie as much as it did in the book, but I'm glad it happened.

Filch

With each movie, Filch gets better and better. In a strange out of character sort of way. Filch in film one is more like the Filch in the book. He's scary and you definitely don't want to get caught by him. But even though he's kind of devolved into comic relief, I am glad to see him getting a bigger part. He's a kind of Big Brother at Hogwarts, and even though he's no longer the thing of nightmares, you still get that feeling that someone is always watching you.

Even if he is eating a sandwich.

Hagrid and the Steak

It was a small detail in the book, but a vivdly described one, and I'm glad that little bit stayed.


Sirius' Pimpin' New Digs

MMMMM.... DELICIOUS PUREBLOOD CLOTHES OF SOPHISTICATION AND PRETENTIOUSNESS. He looks good in them. Pocket watch and fob were an excellent touch.

Pretty Much Anything That Held True To The Books

Seamus avoiding Harry, Dudley also being attacked, Ginny's wicked curse, Neville coming into his own, the battle between Albus and Voldie, Hagrid hiding his brother in the forest... If it was in the book and the movie, I liked it. Yay.




Things That I Did Not Like:

Stylin'... and/or Emo

Harry Potter, you emo jerk, stop dressing like an American suburban teenage asshole. And where are you getting these clothes from, anyway? No one's buying you clothes and you can't buy Muggle clothes because, not only do you not know how to exchange the money, no one will take you fucking shopping. You are supposed to be wearing Dudley's old things, fucktard. DO IT BEFORE I GUT YOU.

And everyone else in Hogwarts sporting the latest trends, find out what year it is. No one dressed like this in 1995. Failzors.

Important Bits: MIA

Petunia is supposed to receive a short letter from Dumbledore. An important bit pointing to past dealings with wizarding folk, apart from dear Lily, and there's a bit in there that makes her not so awful a person, if I recall correctly.

Wasn't there more with the cactus? I think so.

Umbridge is supposed to be an ugly toad-like fucker. Casting fail.

Precautions to getting to Grimmauld Place. No disguises, no detours, no secret keeping. Anyone can find the place.

Grimmauld Place is supposed to be a house in the general direction of manor and/or mansion. Chunk o' long building full of apartment-like housing is not what would have been the residence of any member of the House of Black. Remember, they are Purebloods and Purebloods like to show off their moneys.

The DA coins. It was important to show that one can learn from ones allies and enemies when dealing with battle training. And they were cool.

DRACO FUCKING MALFOY. The filmmakers made it seem like his doings aren't important at all anymore. Which isn't true at all and it bothers me. He's always written to be quite the nasty, pesky little bugger, but the movies, and especially this one, don't do him justice.

Firenze teaching Divination.

Any OWLs results. Those are important.


Padfoot

Ugliest dog ever. And it looks nothing like the last dog. There's nothing Padfoot-like about it.

Death

Instead of leaving it a mystery, they killed him for good. He was hit with an Avada Kedavra before falling into the curtain which negates any sort of doubt. I don't approve.

Soundtrack

John Williams was not the composer for this movie and I'm extremely upset by that. He's my all-time favourite composer and it was really his music that made the movies feel like Harry Potter.

The composer for this film only used one of the previous themes to incorporate into his score and it was very rarely used. Music makes the mood and the mood was Not Harry Potter for this movie. It was good music, just not Harry Potter.

Apparation?

Shown a couple of times, not explained. Or talked about.





I'M TIRED AND THIS MOVIE WASN'T EXACTLY MY CUP OF TEA.

I will be rereading the rest of the books and CTconning for the rest of the week.

Also, sleeping.